Overwatch PTR Now Available - July 12, 2016

by Blizzard Entertainment 07/12/2016

A new Overwatch patch is currently in development and now available for testing on the Public Test Region. For information on how to participate and what changes are included in the upcoming patch, read on below.

Note: In order to access the PTR, you must have installed Overwatch and logged into the game at least once. If the PTR is not available for you after following the steps above, trying logging into Overwatch, exiting the game client, and then launching the PTR again.

Q. On which platforms is the PTR available?
A. The PTR is available on Windows PC only.

Q. What regions are eligible to participate in the PTR?
A. Accounts from all regions (excluding China) are eligible to participate; however, the PTR will be hosted on our Americas region. As a result, if you plan to play the PTR from a region outside the US, please anticipate lowered performance and increased latency.

Q. Is there a cap to how many players can participate on the PTR?
A. The PTR can currently support 10k concurrent players (or players logged into the PTR at the same time). If we happen to reach this cap, any new players attempting to log in to the PTR will be placed into a queue.

Q. What languages will be supported on the PTR?
A. The PTR is available in all supported languages, though some content may not be fully localized yet.

Q. Will any account progress from the live game transfer over to the PTR with me, or do I need to start from scratch?
A. A copy of your account from the live game will be transferred over to the PTR automatically, and all progress will transfer over with it (level, unlocks, stats, etc). Please note that this copy is pre-made, though, and based on an earlier snapshot of your account. As a result, depending on when you last played, your PTR account may not be as up-to-date as your live game account.

Q. Will any progress I make on the PTR transfer over to the live game?
A. No. Any progression earned during the PTR—including levels, achievements, stats, skill ratings, loot boxes (including rewards from loot boxes), currency (including Competive Points), and cosmetic items unlocked with currency—will not transfer over to the live game.

Q. Will I be able to purchase Loot Boxes on the PTR?
A. No. All real-money purchases are disabled on the PTR.

Q. Where can I share feedback about the upcoming patch content?
A. This iteration of the PTR is intended to make sure the upcoming patch is working correctly before it's released, so we'll be primarily focused on uncovering major bugs and technical issues. Though you are still welcome to share your feedback through our normal channels, it's unlikely that we'll be able to incorporate changes based on PTR feedback in this patch cycle.

Please note that the below patch notes only include changes currrently available for testing on the PTR. While many of these changes will also be available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in a future patch, the PTR is PC-only and therefore will only reflect changes coming specifically to that platform.

(PTR patch notes last updated: Thursday, July 14 @ 8pm PDT)

PATCH FEATURES

New Hero: Ana (Support)
After being out of the fight for several years, one of Overwatch's founding members is returning. Introducing Ana—a battle-scarred veteran who supports her teammates from a distance using a unique and highly specialized collection of weapons.

Ana’s primary weapon is her Biotic Rifle, which fires long-range darts that can restore the health of her allies or deal ongoing damage to her enemies. Meanwhile, her Biotic Grenade is perfect for a close-quarters clash, simultaneously healing teammates and injuring foes caught in its small area of effect. (Affected allies will also receive a temporary increase to all incoming healing, while affected enemies can’t be healed for a few moments.) And if the battle starts to get out of hand, Ana's sidearm can fire a Sleep Dart, knocking her adversaries unconscious.

If a match goes into Overtime for more than 20 seconds, the fuse will now start to "burn down" more quickly

Players now respawn more slowly during Overtime (increased spawn time by 2 seconds)

Competitive Play

Competitive Play matches can now only have one of each hero per team. For more info, click here.

Miscellaneous

Added Ana as an AI-controlled hero in Practice vs. AI, Play vs. AI, and Custom Game modes

Timing on Zenyatta's Rapid Discord achievement is more lenient

Targeted teammates now respond by saying "I'm with you," when players use the “Group Up” communication

Renamed five sprays to avoid duplicate titles

HERO BALANCE UPDATES

General

Self-healing abilities now charge ultimate abilities. As a result, some heroes’ ultimate costs have been adjusted (see below).

Ana

Biotic Rifle

Magazine size increased from 6 to 8

Nano Boost

Ultimate cost increased from 1150 to 1250

Bastion

Configuration: Tank

Ultimate cost increased by 10%

D.Va

Defense Matrix

Cooldown decreased from 10 seconds to 1 second

A new resource meter has been added. This meter will deplete while Defense Matrix is active and then recharge when it’s not in use.

Defense Matrix takes 10 seconds to reach full charge from empty

At a full charge, Defense Matrix will last for 4 seconds

Defense Matrix will now remain active as long as its assigned hotkey is held

Defense Matrix has been reclassified as an alternate fire and is now bound to RMB (by default)

An option to “Toggle Defense Matrix” has been added under Options > Controls > D.Va

Self-Destruct

Ultimate cost decreased by 15%

Explosion delay reduced from 4 seconds to 3 seconds

Explosion no longer damages D.Va (the player who activates it)

Developer Notes: D.Va isn't being selected as often as our other tanks, and we feel a lot of that stems from the underperformance of her damage absorption abilities. So, we've reconfigured her Defensive Matrix, making it more flexible and giving players the ability to use it more often. We’ve also given Self-Destruct a little more oomph, because it felt slightly underwhelming when compared to many of Overwatch's other ultimate abilities.

Lúcio

Sound Barrier

Ultimate cost increased by 10%

McCree

Peacekeeper

Now maintains full damage at longer distances, but will deal less damage at extreme ranges

Developer Notes: While the game does feel better following the nerf to McCree’s close-range damage in a previous patch, it left him a little too weak. So, we're increasing his effective distance, making his range similar to Soldier: 76’s. This should hopefully give players another option for dealing with pesky long-range damage dealing heroes like Pharah and Hanzo.

Mercy

Caduceus Staff

Damage Boost

Bonus damage increased from 30% to 50%

Effect will no longer stacks with bonus damage provided by another Mercy

Resurrect

Ultimate charge cost increased by 30%

Movement is no longer prevented during activation

Guardian Angel instantly resets upon use

Developer Notes: Mercy's ultimate is one of the most powerful abilities in the game; however, players would often fly into the fray and die while using it. With this update, Resurrect will now take a bit longer to charge, but Mercy will be a lot safer when activating the ability in the middle of combat. In addition, we always intended Mercy’s Damage Boost beam to be her primary method for dealing damage, but it often felt so weak that you were better off pulling out your blaster. To help address this, we've slightly increased its potency.

Roadhog

Whole Hog

Ultimate cost increased by 45%

Soldier: 76

Heavy Pulse Rifle

Spread recovery will begin after a short delay (rather than instantly)

Tactical Visor

Ultimate cost increased by 10%

Zenyatta

Base shields increased by 50 (now 50 Health/150 Shield)

Primary fire weapon damage decreased from 45 to 40

Alternate fire weapon damage increased from 35 to 40

Orb of Discord and Orb of Harmony

Projectile speed has been increased from 30 to 120

Transcendence

Movement speed is now doubled upon activation

Healing amount increased from 200 to 300 health per second

Developer Notes: While Zenyatta has never had the healing abilities of Lúcio or Mercy, he made up for it by dealing more damage. However, his lack of mobility and low health has meant he’s struggled to find a place in many games. To increase his effectiveness, we've made several changes, the biggest of which is an increased shield pool. This will allow him to go head-to-head with more enemies. The Orb of Harmony and Discord changes are also a quality of life change, helping Zenyatta move his orbs around and apply their effects more quickly. And lastly, we’ve increased Transcendence’s healing throughput. This ultimate was designed to be the most effective against sustained, high-damage fire and least effective against short, high-damage bursts (like D.Va’s or Junkrat's ultimates). But, due to the amount of healing it provided, there were times when it was possible for even sustained fire to overcome Transcendence’s output. We’ve made the heal powerful and also allowed Zenyatta to move around more quickly while it’s active.

USER INTERFACE UPDATES

Game Options

Players can now enter numerical values for any option that also has slider (e.g. FoV, volume, sensitivity, etc.)

Controls

Mouse sensitivity can now be adjusted out to two decimals

Gameplay

Mid-match tips can now be toggled on or off (this will enable/disable tips that pop up after a player dies)

Social

Friend Request toasts can now be toggled on or off

Friend notifications can now be toggled on or off

Whispers can now be toggled on or off

Video

Added 21:9 aspect ratio support

Players can now enable a real-world clock by toggling the "Display System Clock" setting